One of our testers went back on a second day and then again on a third to make triple-sure she loved these boots as much as she thought she did. The narrow-class Cochise Pro W was a unanimous win-win-win for our test team this year for how strongly it skied everywhere on the hill in collusion with a suspiciously comfortable fit.
Yes, this narrow boot's fit scores were decidedly mediumish, but that didn't bother many testers, who said it doesn't have to be bone-crushingly tight to be right when all the angles line up, as this one's did. The cuff is tall and upright and the flex is an evenly dispersed 105 (and then some, they said), so our taller, more aggressive testers liked this one quite a bit. The lower boot fit was longer, wider and higher in the instep than other narrow-class boots, but the liner's plush feel and good-enough fix on the foot got the job done for testers with low volume feet, though the takeaway is that thicker-footed skiers shouldn't shy away from this one—the 98mm is in need of numeric recalibration, perhaps.
The rearward support was top tier and side-to-side movements reportedly rapid fire through all types of snow and terrain. There was no indication that the boot had a hike mode—at least not while skiing. However, the new shell design this year has made huge improvements to the Cochise's range of motion and touring feel when the Mobility Cuff mechanism is released. Testers gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up there.
Kudos
Caveats